Proto:Spyro: Year of the Dragon/Late PAL Demo
The Late PAL Demo of Spyro: Year of the Dragon is the second demo of Spyro 3 released to the European and Australian audiences, and the last demo to be released on compilation discs. While very similar to the preceding Crash Bash demo, there are several ways in which it is unique. Gameplay Differences *Performing two "twisted lemon" skateboard tricks in a row displays the move as "Double Twisted Lemon", similar to how two twisted limes displays the text "Double Twisted Lime". In the final game, however, a double twisted lemon is called "Twisted Lemon x2". Due to the length of the string "Double Twisted Lemon", it overlaps the score text next to the trick names, so it's likely that this is why the string was shortened. The same is also true for triple twisted lemons. *Two skill points are missing from this demo. It should also be noted that while the epilogue is present in the game as explained below, no trace of the skill point menu nor any instance of the word "skill point" is present in the data - just like in Spyro 2, obtaining a skill point plays a sound effect, but gives text notification. **While the course record challenge in Sunny Villa is present (in the sense that a timer appears and a score can be racked up as per usual), when the time is up, no menu appears comparing your score to the course record. In fact, there isn't any way of knowing what the course record is. As it turns out, breaking the course record (which is 4000 in this demo as opposed to 3200 in the final game) causes the game to crash, so it's possible that this challenge was just incomplete. Another thing worth noting is that, unlike the final game, when Hunter says "Score as many points as you can until the timer expires or you wipe out.", he isn't lying. Wiping out stops the timer and resets your score to zero, drastically increasing the difficulty of the minigame. **The other missing skill point is the one hidden in a wall in the egg thief sub-level in Molten Crater. Usually, a life jar is found in this wall, and nothing else. Breaking the jar gives the player the skill point. In this demo, however, both a life jar and a gem safe are found in the wall (usually the safe is closer to the supercharge track). The jar clips slightly with the safe causing some strange visual effects, so it's possible that when the life jar was hidden in the wall, they intended on moving the safe, too. Bizarrely, the jar cannot be broken, stopping the player obtaining the skill point. There doesn't appear to be a butterfly in the jar, either, even when the safe is removed. This might be nothing more than a strange graphical glitch, though. *Like all other demos of the game, Moneybags isn't present. This is almost definitely just to make as much of Molten Crater playable as possible. Early Epilogue Text This demo is the first to include the epilogue text, though it goes unused as the Atlas is inaccessible under normal means. While the epilogue is present in the previous demo, it's completely empty and there is no trace of it in the code. In this demo, if the epilogue is accessed, it can be viewed in its entirety, albeit without the pictures which are usually shown. While mostly the same, one line differs: A rhynoc primadonna entertains cloud city In the final game, it says: A rhynoc primadonna entertains cloud spires In the earliest version of the game, "Cloud Spires" was referred to as "Cloud City", though in every subsequent demo it has been renamed as its final name, making it somewhat peculiar that it would ever be referred to as "Cloud City" this late in development.